David P. Mindell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | The Evolving World: Evolution in Everyday Life |
| Awards | 1986 George S. Wise Post-doctoral Fellowship, Tel Aviv University, Israel[1] 2006 Fellow of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University[2] 2007 Independent Publisher Gold Medal Award, for "The Evolving World"'[3] 2011 Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco[4] |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Prescott College Brigham Young University |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Ornithology, evolutionary biology |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Website | davidpmindell |
David P. Mindell is an American evolutionary biologist and author. He is currently a senior researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.[5] Mindell's work is focused on the systematics, conservation and molecular evolution of birds, especially birds of prey. He is known for his 2006 book, The Evolving World in which he explained, for the general public, how evolution applies to everyday life.[6][7]
From 1994 to 2008 Mindell was Professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and Curator of birds at the University of Michigan. He served as Dean of Science and Harry & Diana Hind Chair at the California Academy of Sciences between 2008 and 2011,[8][9] and was Program Director in the Division of Environmental Biology at the US National Science Foundation during 2012 to 2016.[10]
Mindell was born in Buffalo, New York, where he attended Nichols School. He received a B.S. degree from Prescott College in 1975, and a Ph.D. degree from Brigham Young University in 1986. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University between 1987 and 1989, after which he joined the University of Cincinnati as an assistant professor.[11]
In 1994, Mindell joined the University of Michigan where he taught evolutionary biology and served as professor and curator of birds. In 1998, he was appointed as the director of Genomic Diversity Laboratory at the Museum of Zoology, and in 2003, he was appointed the director of Museum of Zoology. In 2006, he was awarded the Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University, where he conducted research on variable rates of evolutionary change across genes and organisms.[12]
He was elected to serve as the president of Society of Systematic Biology in 2011.[13]
Mindell’s research focuses on evolutionary biology, and specifically the evolution and molecular systematics of birds. He has conducted comprehensive analyses of the systematics of diurnal birds of prey (hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures) in the orders Accipitriformes, Falconiformes and Cathartiformes. His work, funded by both U.S. National Science Foundation and The Peregrine Fund,[14] includes assessment of the genetic distinctiveness and diversity of many poorly known groups of diurnal raptors, and resolution of taxonomic uncertainties.
